Flax-harvesting machine



June 19, 1923. I I 1,459,060

T. KRE|PE FLAX HARVESTING MACHINE Filed July '7, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet lf /II 34 I! 53 I( IIl I I I I I,

June 19, 1923.

T. KREIPE I FLAx HARVESTING MACHINE Filed July '7. 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 June 19, 1923.

T. KREIPE FLAX HARVESTING MACHINE 1921 Shets-Sheet 4 Filed July 7 June 19, 1923.

' 1,459,066 T. KREIPE FLAX HARVESTING MACHINE Filed July, '7, 1921' 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY Patented June 19, 1923. y

entren sr risente PTeNT OFFICE.

'rnnonon'n' KREIPE, or FLORAL PARK, YORK', As'senon To VCTOR E. a"naiu/r.an`

' Ann Lousjrsevosfr waarmaken, Born or Yoan', n'. n

FLAX-HARVESTING MACHINE.

Application mea vJuly 7, 1921.' serial No. 452,874.

Tor all whom if may concern Be it known that I, THnonoRn Knnirn, a citizen of the ,United States, residing at Floral Park, in the county of Nassau and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flax-Harvesting Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to'be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto whichit appertainsf to make and 'use the same.

This invention consists in the novely features hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the same selected for purposes, oflillustration and the said invention vis fully disclosed inthe following description and claims. In the harvesting of flax, whichis grown for the productionof fibre, it is essential that the plants be pulled from the ground, leaving the roots integral with the stalks, as this results in facilitating thejretting process for the production of the fibre and obviates the loss of fibre, which would occur if the stalks were, severed -above the ground. rIlhe pulling of flax'has, up to the present time, been accomplished by hand labor and the scarcity and high price of handlabor at vthe present time is seriously interfering with .the flairindustryland necessitates the resorting to mechanical means for harvestl ing libre flax, The pulling` of flax by .hand

involves, many serious difficulties, as it` is essential that the flax stalks shallpnot beA crushedor injured as this would result in injury to the fibre. The fact that the flax grows densely in the field like the cereal grains, but unlike them is provided at the top with branches `which tend to interlock, also makes it extremelydifficult to pull the flax ksuccessfully by mechanicalmeans in the field. It is also found tobe essential to such a machine that theflax plants, when pulled, shall be kept in parallelism and bound in comparatively small sized bundles -to facilitate the handling of the flax through the drying, retting and deseeding processes to which it is subsequently subjected. The machine herein .described hasbeen found inv actual practice to meet allV these difficul- .ties and successfully pullthe flax and bind it in small bundles suitable for subsequent treatment.

` In the accompanying drawings, l

Fig. 1 represents a top plan view of the flax harvesting machine embodying this invention. j Fig 2 is a side elevation of thesame;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partlyin sec-- tion', of one ofthe pullin belts and` its supporting and driving mec anism.

F ig. i is a` top plan View of a pair ofthe f pulling belts and their supporting and driving mechanism, constituting a pulling unit. j Fig. 5 is a detail view of a part ofone of the belt lsupporting means.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail of one the front belt supporting rollers and adjacent parts, showing the means for adjusting lthe tensionof the belt and independent rmeans of securing the adjustment of the roller.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic View illustrating a portion of` the transferring reels which remove the pulled flax from the pulling vunits and transfer it tov the binding mechanism kwhile preserving the parallelism of .thestalks y Figs. l8 and 9 are detail views illustrating i one of thetransferringreels.

Fig: 10 1s a detaill v1ew of a portion of the binderl showing the binder arm provided with special Imeans for producing the desired small sized bundle. n

Figll is a detail sectional Viewshowing portions of the opposed-pulling `belts of a' pulling unit and portions of the adjacent supporting rollers' carryingv the same, L

and illustrating ythe intermeshing relation of the longitudinal elastic ribs of the pullable driving mechanism, each of said belts being providedkon `its outer face with va plurality. of longitudinal ribs kor` beads extensible longitudinally and `preferably formed of rubber so as to vbe longitudinally elastic, the opposed portions of a pair ofv these belts being illustrated in Fig. 11. The belts are preferably madeV of layers ofrc'an.- vas, balata er other suitable nonfextensible fabric, indicated at l, preferably vunited by rubber compound and encased a 'skinof p the belts do not come togetherat any point and providing` clearance spaces, indicated at 6, between the ribs of one belt and the face of the opposing belt, and the spaces 7 between the ribs of one belt and the ribs of the opposing belt, so that a flax stalk or stalks vwhen gripped between the opposing ribs 3 of the belts of a pulling unit, will be given a series of bends, as indicated in Fig. 11, suliicient to enable the belts to hold the stalk or stalks frictionally against vertical movement, and pull them out of the ground together with the roots as the belts travel upwardly and rearwardly in the machine. The clearances 6 and 7 before referred to are sufficient to accommodate any number 'of stalks which may occupy the belt at any part thereof so that the pulling apparatus is equally effective where the flax is thinly planted or thickly planted, and as the belts do not have any parts in direct contact the flax stalks will not be crushed between opposing surfaces, but will bend and accommodate'themselves within the clearances provided. The ribs 3 of the belts being made i preferably of rubber can expand longitudinally as they pass around the rollers at the front and rear end and resume their normal position along the straight portions of the belt,fthus making the belt flexible and easy to drive, while the elasticity of the ribs transversely'also tends to avoid crushing the stalks while insuring a firm grip upon the bent portions thereof.

In the machine illustrated in the drawings two pulling units are shown, but any desired'number may be employed, each unit comprising two belts such as previously described, and the rollers 4 and 5 for each belt being'mounted on a frame in the manner illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. In these figures 8 represents an inclined support secured to the main frame 10 and carrying at its upper end a bracket 9 provided with collars in which a longitudinal bar or tube 1l is held. The rear end of the bar 11 is provided with a yoke 12 carrying the rear roller 5. The front end of the bar 11, which is the lower end, is also provided with a yoke 13 carrying a pivotally mounted shaft 14 on which the front roller 4 is mounted, an adjusting screw l5 being provided to adjust the shaft 14 in parallelism with the shaft Iof the roller 5 so that the belt will run true. The yoke 13, as shown in Fig. 6, is provided with a threaded stem 16 slotted at 17 and held fromrotation by a set screw 18 and provided withr a nut 19 by which it may be adjusted to tension the belt without affecting the adjustment provided by the screw 15. For holding the opposed portions of the belts against separation, but without forcing them into contact, rectangular frames 2O and 21 provided with saddles 21a are clamped to the bars 11 by U-bolts and are provided with rollers 22, the rollers adjacent to one belt being out of alignment with those engaging the other belt of a pair to avoid crushing the stalks, in some instances an additional roller, indicated at 23, is carried by one of the yokes 13 in order to bring it as far forward as possible.

It will be understood that the belts are driven so that the parallel opposed portions will move in the same vdirection as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4. In order to avoid having anything above the pulling belts in which the branch portions of the stalks may become entangled, it is preferred to drive these belts from below, and this is accomplished preferably by means of a common driving shaft, indicated at 24, extending across the front of the machine and provided with beveled pinions 25 engaging beveled pinions 26 on vertically inclined shafts 27 mounted in the inclined supports 8, the upper ends of the vertical shafts being each connected by a sprocket chain 28 and sprocket wheels 29-30 with the rear roller 5 of one of the belts.

The desired number of pulling units, two

eral units.

As the machine is drawn forward over the ground by tractor or draft animals, which maybe connected to the draft tongue, indicated at 35, the dividers 33-34 will be pushed into the standing flax, separating the stalks and guiding them into the grip of the opposed belts of the several units, which are driven at substantially the same or greater speed in a rearward direction. As the stalks enter between the opposed belts they will be firmly gripped and slightly deflected in zig zag form by the opposed intermeshing ribs and as the belts move upwardly, the stalks will be raised and gradually pulled out of the ground by the roots .without being injured, and will be carried to the upper ends of the pulling units and there discharged rearwardly in perfect parallelism. i

Uponthe frame in rear of the pulling belts is located the binding mechanism which is so arranged as to bind'the stalks while still in vertical and parallelrelation.y `The binding mechanism is ;of usu-al form and Y comprises horizontally `movable packing arms, a horizontal swinging needle armor f binder37, a horizontallyinovable trip arm 38, anda horizontally movableejector arm 39. VIt is very important that the stalks olelivered` by the pulling units shallbe seized and transferred into the binder, without permitting them to "fall-vertically or lose their parallelism; Tothis end -one orv more vertical reels provided with a plurality of disappearingwarms are provided and so. located that the stalksfrom the pulling unit. nearest the binder willbe immediately seized.

by the ladj-acent lreel armsy and carried ydi.- rectly into positiontobe engaged "by the packer arms 36, theadjacent pulling. units being providedwithA an additional reel or reelsfwhich takethe stalks therefromv and deliver them. to the first mentioned reel by 4 which `they*` are forwarded to the binder.k

The lrevolving and disappearing reel arms are moved horizontally` and` with sufficient rapidity to carry the stalks along? and thrust them into the :binder without permitting them to move downwardly with respect to the reel arms. i Each of tliefreels comprises a vertical shaft' 41 provided with one, two or more sets of horizontally revolving arms 40, as may be deemed-most desirable.

I'prefer vto employ v'two'sets of these revolving ,arms foreach reel, one set being located abovefthe deliveryends of the ad]a cent pulling belts; and the othersetqbeing located below the ends of the adjacent pull ing belts, as clearly shown in Fig'Q.y The revolving and 1 .disappearing varms Ivwill therefore engage `the stalks at 'different points longitudinally thereof, and will'carry them `in vertical lposition'. Being located 'above and below the delivery ends 'of the pulling belts,` the stalks will be taken from the belts and carried to the binder without being lpermitted to fall or become tangled or' otherwise get out of their vertical parallelism. These revolving arms, are 'piv' oted at 42 to horizontal discs'43' v(see Figs;

8 and 9) adjacent toeach of vwhich is astaveo tion'a'ry disc 44 provided with a. cam 45 for engaging friction rollers 46' on the pivoted arms, said arms being provided'with curved guiding portions 47 adapted lto pass around the exterior of. the cam 45, as `shown in Fig. 8, and the cam plate 44 is` also provided with a. stud 48 for engaging the cam flanges 4()a onthe arms and causingsaid arms' to disappear between the plates 43 and 44 after they have performed their func-1 tion, as clearly indicated in Fig. 8, and as shown in the diagram Fig. 7, in order that these, reels 'may I `operate without winding uporentangling the flax'.v i i The use of these ltransferring"reelsfpr ing; thel 'pulled yflair fromthe pulling units `videsYananeX-tremely:simple fand yeffective* 'y transferring mechanism for `positively, tak

and. delivering itf in"A parallelism linto/the g vertical bind'erhand `insuringfthecontinuedr movement of the flax` from" thepullingfunits tok the binder. suitable -1 guides. indicated 1 at` 49, 50,51, 52 and 531.?afr'e provided ftof'in sure theproper deliveryof'the jilaxfinto the binder, and the binder is. also providedi l with 'guides 54 andl 55 to contro-l theposition1 vl of the ilaX inpassing toand ,imm the S'me;

It will bel u1iderstood'tliat the binder oper`- atesA 1ny the `usual.'manner and lwhenever flax plants 'have accumulated in Athe binder:

between -the pickers 36 and trip 38 i toV make the desired bundle, the trip willyieldand'effeCt the: fOFWMd Operation of the 'needles-5 arm 37- to carryfthe'twine aroundfthe `stalks and in, position tov be"` tiedy and severed in the'v usual-mannen .Gln order'rtomakeflthe bundle small andiinsureA its rbeing .tightly A bound theneedlelarmlis preferably'provided 902; I

with a camportion,"indicatedat 56'in Fig.` 10, whichlconfinesi andlimitsv the/size ofthe j bundlebyf preventing the stalks \from"ex, tending-1n a; direction toward theairisfofA the needle arm, `and this cam portion-'fen'- ablesithe Abinding of -the requisite` small i bundles vwith bindinggflnechanisni such yasj is the"` ordinary", selff The mainframe ofithef'n'iachine' isrcarl "I Ooj,

commonly employed in binding harvesterfs.` l\ f1 I l ried upon a bull wheel,fn'dicated at 5T subf- Sfa'nt'iallyinline withtheprgpeiiingtongue i steadiness and uniformitylofy :oper'ationf'can beobtamedl'v As'herein shown themotor is connected by sprocket chains 59 with a longitudinal driving Shaft-60, which.is'connect#` ed by-beveled gearing y"with-a--tra'nsverse driving-shaft '61 extendingacross the front of the machine frame and'connectedy by gearmanages with, the driving :Sh-art a4 tf the pullingunits."A -The s'haftl isfalso connected yby a sprocket" clia'in*i164A and -"si 1itableff f sprockets 'withacounter shaft 6 5', wh-ic'h'is connectedby beveled 'gears withthe vertical y Shaft-,riforme transfer-'romana the binder' isalso driven frontl the shaftGl in any da. I

sired way. 19' p l. l

It will be' understood that the reels `hereinil before described are located i'mm'ediately-i'n'l rear of the 'pulling' un'its, one; of saidreels",

the one /atd'th'e right" in FigL? being located ,i Y l in rear of andslightlytdtlieivleftl ofthe also `the stalks from the first pulling unit Fig. 7, also receives the pulled stalks from the first reelanddelivers them together with ythose received from ythe second pulling unit to the binden' The ydirections in which the stalks are propelled by the reels are further illustrated by the arrows c-jc and the arrow d. llt .will thus be seen that the second reel, the one atvthe left in `Fig. 17, performs the double function of. delivering the stalks received vfrom the second pulling unit,"`and .transferred to it by the first reel, into the binder. It will be understood thatwhere a greater number of pulling units arey em '.ployed, a succession of'reels will `be sim1- larlyarranged in connection therewith so that each reel will foi`wardtlie stalks-revceived from its own .pulling unit together with those which it receives from a preceding` reel, to thenext reel, or into the binder as. the case may be. It will also jbe understood that each ofthe reel shafts 4l is prof vided preferably with a series of the; reelsA illustrated in detail inFigs.V Sandl 9 so that the stalks are simultaneously grasped at dif'- ferentelevations at two or more points according tothe number of` reels employed on each shaft, and these reel shafts are rotated at such aspeed that the stalks are combed or swept horizontally with such rapidity that the stalks` will vbe carried along bodily without fallingfvertically or chang ing; their parallel positions... .In thus f Sweeping, the vertical stalks by the horizontal swing ormovement of the reel arms engaging the stalks at several points in .their length, there is sufficient frictional resistance betweenthe stalks and the reel armsto prevent the stalks fromfalling :vertically in their passage `from one reel to the next andy soon'to the bindei. Obviously the reels operating in this .lmanner would not release the stalks unless. means are provided for retracting the arms, as hereinbefore described, vand as' specifically illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. Thus, in Fig. 8, one of the reel arms vis shown in extended position in which it is .held so as to act as a rigid arm swinging on the axis of the shaft 41,- byl means of the engagement of the curved portion 47 with the exterior of the stationary cam 45 ontheplate 44. When the rotation of the -shaft 4lphas carried the cur-ved portion 47 beyond the end of the kthe exact number.

cani-45, the arm 40will swing on its pivot point engages the stud 48 on thestationary cam plate 144@ This throws the" friction roller 46toward theshaft- 41 andthe armvis held in retractedposition until the roller 46 engages the opposite end of the fixed cam 45, atwhich time the cam liange 40ay which is of less length than the arm 40, has passedk off of the stud48, which position ofthe arm is illustrated at-the rright in Fig. 8. The further rotation of the-shaft 4l causes the arml 40 to'swing outwardly with. considerable iner crease of feed ony account oftheengagement of the roller46 with the end of the cam 45, as willfbe readily apparentl from anexamination? of Fig.. 8, vuntil thecurved portion 47- of the arm en-gagesthe outer face of the cam 445. Inftliis sweep of the arm the flax stalks are rapidly. taken under control by the roller arms, ,at two ormore pointsin their length, asv above stated, thus positively removing thestalks from the pulling .units and rapidly transferring them to theneXt adjacent reel for unitvor, binder as the case may be.

I have shown they reels provided each. with twov arms but do not ywish to-be limited to Obviously if va greater` number of 'armswe're employed in each reel the speed of rotation canbe diminished to effect the same result,- but obviously the weight of the reel structure would bev correspondingly. yincreased and. it would require greaterpower to drivefit. ,The reelsconstructed aslshown` herein each having two arms anddriven 'at vthe required speed have given excellent results in vactual practice in the field. i n

`llhat I- claim and desire to secure by Letters atent is e l 1. In a flax vharvesting machine, the coniybinationof a plurality of pullingvmechanisms each comprising a pair of verticallyvr disposed pulling belts having inclined parallel opposed portions, with a vertically'` disposed binding mechanism, and transferring mechanism comprising horizontally. rotatable armsfor sweeping the pulledstalks, in

vertical parallel relation, from the pulling I mechanisms into .the binder, and means for rotating said arms at sufcient speed to car ry the pulledv stalks into the binder without permitting them to. fall vertically. Y

.2. Ina flax harvesting machine,.the com-r bination' of a'plurality of pulling mechanisms each comprising a pairfof vertically disposed pulling belts having inclinedparallel opposed portions, with a .vertically disposed binding mechanism, and transferring a vertically disposed binding mechanism,

and transferring mechanism comprising a plurality of sets of rotary arms having their axes located at different lpoints between the pulling belts and the binder, and each set comprising arms' located in different hori- Zonta-l planes, for engaging the pulled stalks at different points in their length, and means for rotating said arms at a speed sufficient to carry them from the pulling belts into the binder without'permitting them to fall vertically.

4i. In a flax harvesting machine, the combination of pulling mechanism comprising a pair of vertically disposed pulling belts having inclined parallel opposed portions, with a vertically `disposed binding mechanism, and transferring mechanism comprising a` plurality of sets of rotary arms having their axes located at different points between the pulling belts and the binder, and each set comprising arms located above the level of the delivery ends of the pulling belts and arms located below the level of the delivery1 ends of said belts, for engaging the stalks at different points in their length, and means for imparting rotary vmotion to said arms at sufficient speed to sweep the pulled stalks in vertical parallel relation from the pulling belts into the binder without permitting them to fall vertically.

5. In a flax harvesting machine, the coinbination of a plurality of pulling units each comprising a pair of vertically disposed pulling belts having parallel inclined 0pposed portions, with a. verticallydisposed binding mechanism, and transferring mechanism comprising a reel provided with horizontally rotatable arms located adjacent vto each of said units and an auxiliary reel located between one of the first mentioned reels and lthe binder, said reels having their axes so located that the stalks will be passed from one reel to another and into the binder, and means for driving said reels at suliicient speed to carry the stalks in vertical parallel relation into the binder without permitting them to fall vertically.

6. In aflax harvesting machine, the combination of a plurality of pulling units each comprising a pair of vertically disposed pulling belts having parallel inclined opposed portions, and a vertically disposed binding mechanism, v and transferring mechanism comprising a reel located adjacent to the delivery end of each of said pulling units 'and comprising horizontally rotatable arms located above and below the delivery end of the adjacent pulling unit, said reels having their axes so located as to pass the pulled stalks from one to the other in a direction toward the binder, and an auxiliary reel interposed between one of said first mentioned reels andthe binder, and having rotary arms located in different horizontal planes, for receiving the pulled stalks from all the pulling units and carrying them into the binder, and means for` driving all of said reels. j

7. In a flax harvesting machine, they combination with pullingunits, of a transferring reel comprising among itsmembers a vertically rotatable shaft, a rotary device` carried thereby, pivotally mountedarms on said rotary device, a stationary part having a cam for controlling said arms when in operative position, and an eccentrically located stop for retracting said arms.

` 8. In a flax harvesting machine, the combinationfwith pullingunits, of a transferring reel comprising among its vmembers a verticallyv rotatable shaft, a rotary device carried thereby, pivotallyy mounted arms on` said rotary device, a stationary part having a cam for controlling said 'arms when in operative position, and an eccentrically located stop for retracting said arms, each of said arms having a curved portion for engaging said cam, and a longitudinal flange of less extent than said arms `for engagingfsaid stop. c i

9. In a flax harvesting machine, the combination with pulling units,fof a transferiio ing a camvfor controlling saidarms when in operative position, and an eccentrically located stop for retracting said arms, each of said arms being' provided with a curved segmental portion for engaging said cam, an eccentrically mounted rollerl for engaging said cam, anda vertically disposed flange of less l length than the arm for engaging said stop, and j adapted to disengage the stop at the instant of engagement of said roller with said cam.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature,

Trino-Donn narnia-ii.

iis v 

